Happy New Years, Mr. Cornwell. I hope the coming year is both prosperous and productive for you in all ways! At this point, as you are moving towards finishing Uhtred #6, I suspect you are giving a bit of thought to what to write next. Eventually, it will be Sharpe, if not this time then probably the next. I am writing to try to dissuade you from an unfortunate course you seem to be on that I fear will cause the Sharpe saga to fall short of what it should be. As I look at the Sharpe books, I see a gaping wound in the story. That wound is the year 1808, falling between ’Sharpe’s Prey’ and ’Sharpe’s Rifles.’ The gap must be filled. I know that you have said many times that having taken Sharpe back once; you are not inclined to do so again. But it seems to me that this is exactly what you must do. Here, I think, you must think not in terms of what you WANT to do, but rather of what you SHOULD do. The year 1808, when Sharpe first came to the Peninsula is crucial to his saga. What is required is two NOVELS to bridge the gap. The first should deal with Sharpe’s arrival in the Peninsula and his fighting the battles of Rolica and Vimeiro (since they were only four days apart, they can be handled in one novel). The second should cover the beginning of Moore’s campaign into Galicia, his retreat before Napoleon, and Sharpe’s rearguard action at Lugo. It should end literally the minute before ’Rifles’ begins. I recall your having said that you might cover this time in a couple of short stories. This would be a totally inadequate measure. All three of your short stories have been about small events, over with in the course of a single day. To try and cover such major battles and troop movements as I have cited above would be like using a band-aid where heart bypass surgery is needed. It simply won’t do the trick. You have a number of possibilities for future Sharpe short stories: a) One set in India where Sharpe tracks a man-eating tiger or leopard. b) One before Prey where we see Sharpe getting settled into the Rifles. c) The action on the Coa River, between ’Eagle’ and ’Gold.’ d) Sharpe’s recruitment trip home to England before ’Company,’ where he first met Jane. e) Sharpe and Harper in Paris after ’Waterloo.’ But all of these are comparatively small events that can be covered adequately in a short story format. The two events of 1808 I have cited cannot. Think of what pale, insipid caricatures of themselves ’Eagle’ or ’Company’ would have been if you had written them as short stories rather than novels. Trying to pass off Rolica/Vimeiro or Moore’s campaign as short stories would have the same unsatisfying result. I sincerely hope I have not come across as in any way disrespectful in this note; it was the farthest thing from my intention. But it just seems to me that you owe it to yourself, your fans, and Sharpe himself to take the trouble to cover 1808 as it deserves. Alan Kempner